Uniting Believers: What Will It Take?
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In last week’s article, we established that God wants His people united- and that we are not. Though we all claim to believe in the same God, the same Savior, and the same Spirit- who are all “One” by the way (John 17:11,21,23), we are divided into various denominations and sects. Given these things, how do we get back to where we’re supposed to be? How do we become again the “one body” (cf. Ephesians 4:4) God created and intended?
While I’ve never portended to have “all” the answers, in this case, I have at least considered the question. Therefore, it seems to me that there are some fundamental principles which must be observed and obeyed if we are to ever become united.
First, we must believe that the Bible is God’s Word. You say most of us already believe that? Really? While most everyone agrees that it is “impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18), they apparently do not believe all that He said either. For instance, some doubt what He said about a literal six days of creation. They have succumbed to Darwinian pressure and have retreated to Theistic Evolution’s supposed blending of science and faith. Theistic Evolution says that although God did indeed create the things Genesis says He did, He did so with gaps of perhaps millions of years between these six “days.” Is that what God said in Exodus 20:11? What sense did it make for Jews to commemorate and keep the seventh day as a Sabbath if there were millions of years between each of the six days of creation? You see, “we” don’t all really believe the Bible is God’s Word! And if we can’t even agree on how we got here from God’s Word, how will we ever agree on how to be united here from God’s Word?
But the Bible is God’s Word, cf. 2Timothy 3:16-17; and He is directly responsible for its contents, 1Corinthians 2:10-13. We’ve already seen that men’s words divide us, so surely we can see that only God’s Word can unite us. Thus, to become “one,” we must cast aside all the doctrines and dogmas of men, and believe and use the Bible alone as our standard of faith and practice.
Second, we must eliminate relativism and subjectivism from the process of understanding and applying God’s Word. In the context of biblical interpretation (and therefore application), “relativism” is the notion that Truth is not absolute, and is thus always relative to some particular frame of reference, such as current culture and/or moralities. Such could lead one to conclude, regarding some point of doctrine, “That may be true (right or wrong) for you, but is not necessarily true for me.” Thus, we’ve made God’s Word relative to ourselves, cp.1Corinthians 10:13a.
Subjectivism is akin to relativism in its effect. Subjectivism says that Truth is subject to my own interpretation of it. This is patently not true! While the application of Truth is subject to my interpretation of it- I can’t apply it correctly if I don’t understand it correctly; the Truth itself is not subject to my understanding of it. It’s still true whether I correctly understand and apply it or not, cp. Matthew 22:29!
These two notions of relativism and subjectivism combine to produce a major hindrance to unity: the idea that we can “understand” the Bible differently, and therefore apply it differently, and still be pleasing to God. This simply is not true. One may understand, and another may misunderstand; or, both may misunderstand, but two cannot understand the Truth differently. Why? Because truth is neither relative nor subjective! 1Corinthians 14:37 (KJV), “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
Finally, and as a conclusion of the previous two points, we must decide that Truth matters- and act accordingly. The notion that Truth is somehow secondary to science (man’s knowledge) and society (man’s wisdom) is absolutely counterproductive to unity. As long as we believe and espouse that “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you’re honest and sincere,” then true unity is impossible- not to mention salvation. This logic and reasoning makes impotent the very thing that can unite us: God’s Word. We’ve replaced the credibility and power of God’s Word with our own knowledge and wisdom. Surely we can all see that such just cannot (Jeremiah 10:23), and thus will not, work. True unity must be firmly founded on, and only on, God’s Word!